The scapegoat's desperate plight

The Hidden Mist ninja who had been about to strike all turned at the sound, their eyes settling on Jinin Akebino.

They had nothing but contempt for someone like Itsuki Ishikawa, but he had offered to defect. Their leader still had to decide what to do with him.

Jinin Akebino curled his lip into a smile of utter contempt.

"What use do we have for a worthless Hidden Leaf genin like this?"

"The Hidden Mist doesn't keep freeloaders."

"Just kill him."

Itsuki Ishikawa's head rang, and his entire body went rigid.

This wasn't right!

He'd already offered to betray his village. Why did they still insist on killing him?

At that moment, regret surged from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull.

Suddenly, the faces of his teammates flashed through his mind, across the scant dozen or so years he had lived—people he had never deigned to take seriously.

Before, he had been full of resentment, convinced he stood above everyone else.

Only when the rain came pouring down did he see who had an umbrella and who stood bareheaded.

The teammates he had looked down on were still alive and well. He was the one about to breathe his last.

He couldn't help thinking, If only I hadn't been so arrogant.

If I'd gotten along with everyone instead of looking down my nose at them, or even followed Shin Kudo just now, would I have escaped lying here waiting to die?

But it was too late for any of that.

Before he could finish that thought, the kunai in the Hidden Mist ninja's hand had already swept across his throat.

Blood spurted out, splashing hot.

Itsuki Ishikawa couldn't catch his breath. Everything before his eyes grew increasingly blurred.

He died.

His death didn't cause so much as a ripple.

Honestly, the fact that he had survived this long already meant his death had come late.

He should have died back when he abandoned his team, fell out with his squadmates, and offended every last one of them.

It was only a question of sooner or later.

Unless he truly had some heaven-defying ability.

But reality wasn't so forgiving.

The Uchiha were hailed as the Hidden Leaf's strongest fighting force, yet after offending every lineage, hadn't they still ended up slaughtered to the last member?

A civilian ninja like him, with neither backing nor ability, didn't even qualify to be weighed in the balance.

There was no escaping a dead end like this.

Not one of the Hidden Mist ninja cared about the corpse on the ground now. They all gathered around Jinin Akebino.

"Nara? Uchiha?"

"Looks like that squad we lost really did meet worthy opponents."

"Send three squads after the Hidden Leaf's Team Seven, and assign a sensory ninja to assist them."

"The rest of you, advance on the Hidden Leaf's Frontline Camp at full speed."

"Signal the base to launch an all-out assault. Since we can't stay hidden anymore, don't give the Hidden Leaf another second to prepare."

With that, he raised his hand in a signal.

A Hidden Mist flare shot into the sky and burst into a dazzling blaze of light.

The Hidden Mist ninja who had concealed themselves all the way here stopped keeping low and charged toward the Hidden Leaf's Frontline Camp together.

The three Hidden Mist squads left behind also followed the sensory ninja's guidance, heading straight after Jin Uchiha and the others.

Back at the Frontline Camp.

Yukie Miyamoto sat alone in the command tent, staring absently at the map on the wall.

Her brow was tightly furrowed, her face tense, her eyes filled with thought.

This was her first time serving as Front Lines commander, and it felt as though a great stone weighed on her shoulders. She didn't dare relax for a moment.

It was already past midnight, yet she still couldn't sleep soundly. She kept feeling that a single wrong move would spell disaster.

But what could she do?

For a ninja of civilian origins, earning an opportunity like this was harder than reaching the heavens.

She wasn't hoping for some brilliant victory. She only wanted to avoid any major mistakes.

If she could hold out through these hardest days until the Hidden Leaf's main force arrived, she would have made it through unscathed.

Only with that achievement to her name would she qualify to squeeze into the ranks of the Hidden Leaf's leadership.

She had staked every ambition in her life on this one chance.

Unfortunately, there was one thing she had never understood—the path she had chosen had been blocked from the very beginning.

If this really were a cushy assignment ripe for earning merit, would it ever have fallen to a civilian ninja like her?

Put bluntly, she was there to take the fall.

The Hidden Leaf had already learned through its spies that the Hidden Mist was preparing to strike.

But with no troops to spare from the other fronts, they couldn't muster enough forces on short notice. All they could do was push her forward as their scapegoat, leading a mob of cannon fodder to hold the line.

The ugly truth was that the Hidden Leaf's leaders had never expected her or these expendable troops to hold out.

As long as they bought enough time to bring in the real heavy hitters, that would do.

And what would happen after the battle?

If she died on the battlefield, that would be the end of it.

Even if she survived, the blame for the defeat would still land squarely on her head.

For a civilian who hadn't aligned herself with the Hokage's faction, the door to the leadership had been welded shut from the start.

While she was mulling things over, a ninja rushed inside.

Yukie Miyamoto's brow tightened. Before she could open her mouth, he cried out.

"Ma'am!"

"An emergency flare—the highest-level red alert."

"We've confirmed its origin. Outpost Twenty-Seven."

Yukie Miyamoto's heart clenched.

It was here. It had finally come.

From this moment on, she would have to face the greatest hurdle of all.

She had no attention to spare for the man before her. She strode out of the command tent, looked up, and saw the red flare high overhead.

Her expression turned thunderous.

The highest-level alert meant the situation had deteriorated as far as it possibly could.

But she couldn't understand.

What could have happened to force them to send a signal at this level?

As she wondered, another flare shot into the night sky.

This one was purple. It wasn't from the Hidden Leaf.

There was no mistaking it, then. It belonged to the Hidden Mist.

The taut thread in Yukie Miyamoto's mind finally snapped. Without further hesitation, she shouted across the camp at the top of her lungs.

"Everyone, on alert!"

"Medical teams, evacuate immediately! Third Division, escort them out!"

"Everyone else, hold the line with me! Prepare to engage!"

At her orders, the entire Frontline Camp erupted like a hornet's nest that had been struck.

A shrill alarm blared. Ninja squads on night patrol, asleep, or resting all rushed out from their respective positions.

Less than half an hour later.

Before the Hidden Leaf could finish forming its defensive lines, more than twenty Hidden Mist ninja came charging in.

They formed hand seals and spoke in unison.

"Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!"

The next instant, thick mist poured from every Hidden Mist ninja's mouth, enveloping the Hidden Leaf's Frontline Camp completely in the blink of an eye.

The Hidden Leaf's ranks immediately fell into disarray.

It couldn't be helped. More than half the troops brought here had only just graduated from the ninja academy. Bluntly put, they were cannon fodder.

They had never even been on a proper mission or faced a bandit's blade, yet they had been thrust straight onto a battlefield of flying flesh and blood.

Before coming, they had shouted their slogans loud enough to shake the heavens. But faced with this scene, it was already an achievement not to break down on the spot.

"Hold steady!"

Shouting, Yukie Miyamoto prepared to rush out and intercept the Hidden Mist attackers head-on.

Before she could move, wave after wave of Hidden Mist elites poured out of the woods and charged straight into the camp.

Yukie Miyamoto's expression darkened completely.

But there was no other option left. With a loud shout, she charged forward.

She had barely lunged ahead when an extraordinarily broad sword swung across her path, blocking her.

The man who emerged behind the blade had bandages wrapped around his neck and eyes as cold and sinister as a snake's.

"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"

Yukie Miyamoto nearly ground her teeth to pieces.

"The Executioner's Blade, Juzo Biwa?"